Isabella Wheildon murder trial: Friend tells of shock when she learned toddler had died in Sidegate Lane, Ipswich

The friend of a mother accused of murdering her own two-year-old daughter in Ipswich has described her shock upon learning of her death.

The trial of Chelsea Gleason-Mitchell and Scott Jeff, both 24 and of no fixed address, but formerly of Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, continues at Ipswich Crown Court.

The couple stand accused of the murder of two-year-old Isabella Wheildon, after her body was discovered at East Villa, a council-run temporary housing unit in Sidegate Lane on June 30, 2023.

Joanne Gardner, a friend of Gleason-Mitchell’s, alerted the police during the morning of July 30 after being informed that Isabella died in her sleep.

The court was told the two had been having a text exchange since June 28, when Gleason-Mitchell messaged Miss Gardner on Facebook Messenger saying: “'I want to tell you something, but no one else is to know.”

Miss Gardner responded: “You know I won’t.”

The following morning, the message had been deleted. When Miss Gardner enquired as to why, Gleason-Mitchell told her it was a ‘long story’.

“I want to tell you but I might be getting down [sic] for it,” Gleason-Mitchell replied.

Both Gleason-Mitchell and Miss Gardner cried when the latter told the court that was when she heard that Isabella had died.

Over the coming hours, Gleason-Mitchell urged Miss Gardner to delete the messages so the police couldn’t track her, the court heard.

Miss Gardner said she was told that Isabella stopped breathing in her sleep, with Jeff attempting CPR on her and that the couple were scared of going to the police as she had developed bruises and black eyes.

It was during this exchange that Gleason-Mitchell said Isabella had been dead for three days and was put in her pushchair in the bathroom.

Miss Gardner said she was in shock after learning of the news and was in a state of disbelief.

However, she told the court she started to grow suspicious.

Gleason-Mitchell and Miss Gardner met while at The Meadows, a housing unit in Sandy, Bedfordshire. Miss Gardner considered her friend to be an excellent mother who was truthful.

In a voice message to Miss Gardner after Isabella’s death, Gleason-Mitchell said: “It's horrible, literally horrible. She's not recognisable. I can't look at her, she's in the bathroom with the door shut, we had to cover her fully up. She’s going to start to smell and I don't know what to do but we can't go to police as she’s covered in bruises. They're going to arrest me and I can't go to jail.”

In another message, she said: “Don't tell anyone. Promise me, I'm scared. I think we're just going to bury her and hope for the best. That's my baby girl gone, she's two.”

Miss Gardener said she urged Gleason-Mitchell to get in touch with emergency services – and later that evening, the defendant messaged her saying the police were at their accommodation.

She said Gleason-Mitchell led her to believe she was about to be taken away, the court heard.

In a final message, Gleason-Mitchell said: “I gonna be locked up for a very long time. They're going to say I murder her because of the marks and because I left her dead in a pram.”

Miss Gardner got in touch with social services on the morning on June 30, 2023, before contacting Bedfordshire Police.

Miss Gardner told the court: “I didn’t know if it was true, I didn’t know what to believe. If it was not, Chelsea needed help as why would you make up something like that?”

She said she was not aware of Gleason-Mitchell’s co-defendant Jeff, although she did know she had a new boyfriend.

Between them, Jeff and Gleason-Mitchell are accused of eight offences, with each charged with one count of murder, one of causing or allowing the death of a child, one of cruelty to a child under 16 in relation to cocaine plus one of cruelty to a child under 16 with relation to cannabis.

Gleason-Mitchell pleaded not guilty to murder, but admitted all other charges. Jeff pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Police discovered Isabella’s body in a locked bathroom at the flat they were staying when she died. Both defendants had left.

The prosecution believe she died on June 26, 2023.

The court was told the toddler was subjected to an ‘escalated regime of brutality’ which was ‘callous, cruel and ultimately fatal’ during the prosecution’s opening statement.

Isabella was also found to have traces of cocaine and cannabis in her system.

The pair were arrested in Mustow Street, Bury St Edmunds, on July 1.